疯狂星期四fēng kuáng xīng qī sì

KFC Crazy Thursday

V wǒ 50!V我50！Send me 50!

疯狂星期四, “Crazy Thursday”, is a KFC China deal that became a weekly joke. Every Thursday, people post a long, dramatic story that ends with a twist: today is Crazy Thursday, V我50, send me 50 yuan for KFC.

Took off: 2021
Started in: A KFC deal
Today: Current

What it means

The joke is the switch at the end. A post starts as a heartbreak, a mystery or a confession, and the last line asks for money for fried chicken. V means a WeChat transfer, so V我50 is “WeChat me 50”.

People call the genre 疯四文学, “Crazy Thursday literature”.

How people use it

It is still a weekly habit in many group chats, and almost every young Chinese internet user knows it. Scammers have copied the format, so treat a real request for money in this style with care.

亮亮

我昨晚梦到一个很重要的秘密
wǒ zuó wǎn mèng dào yí gè hěn zhòng yào de mì mì
Last night I learned a big secret in a dream.
什么秘密？
shén me mì mì?
What secret?
秘密就是：今天星期四，V我50
mì mì jiù shì: jīn tiān xīng qī sì, V wǒ 50
The secret is: it’s Thursday. Send me 50.
我就知道！又是疯狂星期四
wǒ jiù zhī dào! yòu shì fēng kuáng xīng qī sì
I knew it! Crazy Thursday again.
好吧，我们一起去吃
hǎo ba, wǒ men yì qǐ qù chī
Fine, let’s go eat together.

More examples

今天是疯狂星期四，谁V我50？
jīn tiān shì fēng kuáng xīng qī sì, shéi V wǒ 50?
It’s Crazy Thursday. Who’s sending me 50 yuan?
朋友发了一条很长的消息，最后一句是：V我50。
péng you fā le yì tiáo hěn cháng de xiāo xi, zuì hòu yí jù shì: V wǒ 50.
My friend sent a very long message. The last line was: send me 50.

Where it came from

KFC China started its Thursday deals around 2018. Reports say users began writing the joke posts in 2021, and in late 2021 KFC joined in with its own Crazy Thursday writing campaign. The company registered 疯狂星期四 as a trademark in January 2022.

The meme peaked in 2022, when every Thursday brought a new wave of posts on Weibo and in group chats. Where V我50 itself came from is not clear.

The original. There is no single image. A typical post is a long text that ends with 今天是肯德基疯狂星期四，V我50. KFC’s branding is a trademark, so our picture shows a plain striped bucket. DAO Insights covered KFC’s own use of the meme. DAO Insights